What We Studied

Another week full of regular schoolwork, co-op, and a few activities. Very very normal.

Literature and Poetry

Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. Arthur finished the co-op book club selection. We cannot wait to discuss it in two weeks. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We finished our read aloud at the end of the week. Perfect timing.

Poetry: The Tree That Time Built
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Math

Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. We ended up taking a short break from our textbook to explore more logic and algebraic expressions and do some review and catchup.

Math in Focus Course 1 Book A

Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.

Singapore Primary 3A
Primarily Logic

Social Studies

Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. We covered North America and the attempts at colonization.

Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time

Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. We covered a chapter about Russia and the Ivans.

History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
DK Explorers
The Mongol Empire from Britannica Educational Publishing
Follow Me Around: Russia by Wiley Blevins
Let's Explore Russia by Walt K. Moon
Living In Russia by Jesse Burton
Russia ABCs by Ann Berge
Matreshka by Becky Hickox Ayres
The Flying Witch by Jane Yolen
The Black Geese by Alison Lurie
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Marianna Mayer
Grandma Chickenlegs by Geraldine McCaughrean
Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll by Hiawyn Oram
Baba Yaga by An Leysen

Science

Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. Other than co-op, we watched a ton of PBS Eons videos this week.

RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim

Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We started a small unit about weather But we also just watched a ton of PBS Eons videos.

RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
Nat Geo Kids: Weather
The Child's Introduction to the Environment
What Will the Weather Be? by Lynda Dewitt
Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons
DK Eyewonder: Weather
Boy, Were We Wrong About the Weather by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

Academic Co-op

We’re entering the home stretch of this semester of co-op. For biology, the kids learned about reptiles and birds. In art, they covered blind contour drawing. And for writer’s workshop, we conferenced the fictional narratives. Only one week to go!

Art and Music

Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.

For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We covered Donna Summer and The Bee Gees, so I guess it was disco week. The boys liked The Bee Gees more than Donna Summer, but neither were favorites.

Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts

Field Trip/Activities

No specific field trip this week, but we did finally get back to the zoo. We visited the desert, jungle, and aquarium with some friends. It was lovely to get back to our favorites.

High

The boys got to attend the winter homeschool dance on Thursday night and then sketchbook club on Friday afternoon. So two big activities with friends.